The Bone-Breaking Leavenworth Trip of 2009 Part IV

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Take a look at that picture up there. Sheesh.  My second Honda Element, totalled. My second accident I walked away from with only minor injuries (though granted, my injuries are less minor this time) Both times, things could have been much worse. Much, much.

Instead, I woke up and got to deal with what comes after a wreck like this, trying to sort crap out and deal with the inevitable aches and pains.

Here's what we have on the morning of December 15th, 2009. No car, ipso facto, no transportation home. Some strong pain pills but not strong enough to prevent the pain, not really. An insurance company that takes things easy around the holiday. No coverage for rentals but thats okay, there are none for a hundred miles and will be none for at least three days, not unless we want to drive to Seattle. I have no coat, and only one glove. Despondant  or just plain pissy members of the party be ready to mutiny. My best friends still need wed. We don't really have a place to sleep tonight.

Did I mention that we were utterly and completely stranded 700 miles from home? Four people, my wife forgot her ID, low on funds and with my busted arm, comfort and fear of blood clots are very real concerns.

Bah. First thing's first, essentials out of my battered vehicle, then a coat that doesn't look like like a child's cape on my shoulder like the borrowed one I'm packing.

The guy at the wreckers was a doof. Let us in, let us take crap and leave without ever having us sign a few very important papers, I mentioned this to him, but he seemed okay with things. Strontium, poor Strontium was a wreck, his front tire and part of the axle in the back seat, everything cracked and shattered.

But you should see the other guy.... right here!

Dude knows how to bounce off us and hit a tree, I'll give him that!

Apart from the wrecker, who, lets face it are generally a scummy bunch, everyone in Leavenworth was incredibly, ridiculously, over the top nice. All of them. Nice, sweet, caring, friendly.

The ladies at the Aussie shop there especially, they took me under their wing, so to speak and made it thier mission to find me a coat. They had a few there, but mostly out of my range, so they sent us around town looking for cheaper/free coats. No luck, but the town was PRETTY. Snowy and gorgeous.

After our search we hit the Australian store again and The Ridiculously Nice Clerks From Heaven/Australia sold me a pretty nice coat that was on clearance.  After that, we headed back to the house and tried to hash out how the crap we were gonna get home.

Lindsay couldn't fly or bus or train, no ID. No rentals available. Finally, we decided that Devon and Lindsay would cram themselves and most of our luggage into the back seat of Derek's sports car and ride back with him the next morning. Ben and I would mail whatever we couldn't fit or take with us, and we would ride the Amtrac to Whitefish, MT.

Derek would drop Lindsay off in Missoula that day and we would meet her the next morning, after getting a ride from my awesome aunt Jo from Whitefish to Missoula. From there, Rich, my father in law, drove up and would fetch us in Missoula and finally, bring us home.

That settled, we dove into the far more pleasurable task of marrying my friends. No Santa suit, but aside from that and some grogginess on the part of the groom and I, everything went beautifully. All things considered, it was a nice wedding, though I was in and out of consciousness for a good chunk of it.

Lindsay and Devon left the next morning. We spent the day in Leavenworth, wandering around and mailing our excess baggage (Again, ridiculously nice folks...) and left on the train that night.

I'd never ridden on a train before and it was a LOT of fun. Roomy, novel, comfy, if it had been light outside so that I could see the world beyond the glass, it would have been immensely enjoyable! Hooray for Amtrac!

The rest of the trip home was uneventful, though I became increasingly uncomfortable as  the agony in my arm asserted itself. Over the following week, I started suffering from claustrophobia and weird pains, as well as the unsettling feeling of bones shifting around in my flesh. It's healing well now, and they hope to avoid surgery.

While our inaugural trip out was not the best intro to the city, I did really enjoy Leavenworth. It's touristy and crowded but never feels like it, it somehow keeps the quaint Bavarian village feel throughout. I have to give huge thank yous to the ladies at the Australian Store, Corey and Lisa and the rest of Brooke's family, the conductor n the train that sorted our rates out, Aunt Jo and Rich for getting us home, and the lovely women in my life, my wife and Brooke, who managed to not lose it when their men got banged up. Love you guys.

 

Speaking of which, here's my initial xray from the accident!